D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is reflecting on her career and what she’s hoping to do when her term is done.
Bowser seemed relaxed and in good spirits as she fielded questions from reporters earlier this week about her decision not to seek a fourth term as mayor.
“My dad was in the first class of ANC commissioners elected. He served a bunch of years. I don’t even know how many — over 20. He chaired his commission, he chaired his civic association. And as a child, I went to a lot of meetings with him and just really soaked it up,” she said when asked about the influence of her late father, Joe Bowser.
Bowser has credited her father with inspiring her life in public service. He died last year at 88 years old.
“My father loved that I was mayor,” she said. “And I just think that he would be very proud. He was proud. And a friend told me, somebody who worked for me on my first campaign and was knocking on doors one day … he said, ‘Who is your dad? I said, ‘What do you mean? He said, you know, ‘I’ve been knocking on doors and people know your dad.’ And I said, you know, so I told him what dad was, and he said, he left a good name for you out here. So, that’s what I live up to.”
Reporters asked Bowser if she would seek any other political office, including Eleanor Holmes Norton’s congressional seat.
“Let me be clear. I will not be running for that seat,” Bowser said. “I don’t want to be in the Congress.”
When asked what she’s looking forward to doing once she leaves office, she gave a light-hearted answer.
“I know one thing that I see a lot of people doing that I don’t do. … They go to these boozy brunches on Sunday for, like, four hours. I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna go to a boozy brunch,” she said.
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